Hamilton Falls

Hamilton Falls is located near Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. The trail starts at the south end of the Emerald Lake parking lot and climbs to the bottom of the falls in slightly under a kilometer. The upper tiers are seen about ½ kilometer and 11 switchbacks further up the trail (watch for the fenced viewpoint, don’t wander off on boot paths that end at the top of the cliffs – you won’t see anything and the ground is scarily loose and pebbly).Hamilton Falls presents an interesting contrast to many of the slot canyon waterfalls found in the Canadian Rockies. Hamilton Lake produces a small stream which cascades well over 2000 feet down to the Emerald River valley and in the process it has carved a rather impressive canyon towards the bottom of its descent (if not all the way down from the top). Because the trail doesn’t stay close to the creek for its climb up to Hamilton Lake, its not easy to determine exactly how long the falls stretch for, but the visible series extend for about 300 vertical feet. At the top of the formation is a stairstep series of horsetails, with small potholes in between, followed by a short gravelly runout, and then at the bottom is a 40 foot horsetail fluming into a small pool formed, and filled with gravel, by an old concrete dam of some sort.